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I must say I am quite disappointed. I was hoping for about 10X speed
boost even with applications that can only use a single core. After all,
more than six years separate the two (expected boost suggested
by Moore's law would be 64X). The real life tests show nothing
of this sort! Not even close to 10X.

snip

Slightly on a tangent, I've been disappointed with all of my CPU
upgrades after my first one. My first processor was an 8088-10MHz on a
PC-XT clone. My first processor upgrade went from that, straight to a
386DX-25MHz! It felt like I just strapped a rocket to my machine --
everything felt faster, even the typing! Every other processor upgrade
since then has felt somewhat unworthwhile. I never noticed the
performance in day-to-day work.

Even though my current processor is probably literally at least a 1000
times faster than that first processor, they all seem to just barely be
noticeable from the previous processors, in my opinion. And I'm not one
to upgrade every year either, I usually wait about 3 years between
processor upgrades. So 386/25 was still the biggest kick in the pants
ever, even after all of this time.

In 1985, I had an IBM XT and used it to run an assembler for Motorola 6809
code. It took about 20 minutes to complete. A few years later, my company
bought us Compaq Deskpro 40 machines. BIGGGGGGGGG DIFFERENCE! The
assembler took about 30 seconds.

On 12/01/2012 7:51 AM, geoff wrote:
In 1985, I had an IBM XT and used it to run an assembler for Motorola
6809 code. It took about 20 minutes to complete. A few years later, my
company bought us Compaq Deskpro 40 machines. BIGGGGGGGGG DIFFERENCE!
The assembler took about 30 seconds.

However, I've never experienced that kind of upgrade joy since.

Yeah, I know what you mean, things were going so fast, you almost felt
that maybe it didn't work right or something. These days, you might see
something go from 30 seconds down to 15 seconds, it'll feel like a nice
boost for a little while, but after two days you'll already be used to it.

I think it took me months to get over how much faster the new system was
over the older one.

geoff wrote:
In 1985, I had an IBM XT and used it to run an assembler for Motorola
6809 code. It took about 20 minutes to complete. A few years later,
my company bought us Compaq Deskpro 40 machines. BIGGGGGGGGG
DIFFERENCE! The assembler took about 30 seconds.

However, I've never experienced that kind of upgrade joy since.

My first computer was based on the intel 8008, made with hardware hauled out of
the dumpster where I worked. I then designed and wire-wrapped a processor board
for the 8080 chip. Now that was an increase!